Obama and the Veto

The last bastion of any presidential power could be seen to be the veto – certainly this could be viewed as a largely imperial power with the ability to overturn it requiring a difficult 2/3 majority. Following Obama’s bold actiona after the mid-terms, passing the immigration executive order and seeking to thaw relations with Cuba, Obama came out fighting in the new year too – he threatened three vetos including the Keystone Pipeline and on any attack on his immigration reform.

For a president who has only used two vetos, this is a notable shift in his attitude; this was also exemplified by his attitude at the State of the Union with his quip about having no more elections to win. Students all too often jump to the conclusion that a President in years 6-8 of a presidency is simply trying to stave off being a lame duck. In the case of Obama he certainly seems to have come out fighting!